Re: CCIE 24224!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Thank you guys!

Long story short:

In 2007 I passed my CCNP, after that I studied for CCIP, which I cleared in
mid-2008, and at the end of November 2008 I passed the CCIE R&S written exam
after about 1 month of study, using the two Routing TCP/IP volumes and the
CCIE Exam Certification Guide, 3rd Ed.

I dedicated almost 4 months for the lab, with an estimated number of only
400 study hours because I had to manage my time between between the
university studies and a full-time job.

I started by reading all the relevant Cisco Documentation, both the
Configuration Guides and the Command Referece, for the topics covered by the
blueprint ( I needed about 150 hours ) and afterwards I started to play with
different scenarios using Dynamips. In the last 3 weeks I made the
IPexpert's free mock lab and another one paid from Internetwork Expert (mock
lab #5) - none of which passed :)

I arrived to Brussels on the day before the exam (Thursday), I made a quick
reconaissance walk to the Cisco's buildings. That night I reviewed all the
notes I had made and I went to bed around 11 PM. I woke up early, at around
5 AM, I had the breakfast and then I headed towards Cisco. On the way I
admired the dawn and the planes taking off and I kept thinking that today is
the 24th of the 4th month of year and knowing that the current CCIE number
is around 242xx I told myself that it will be nice to get a number like
24242 - but they didn't give me this number (although I must admit I was
pretty close with my 24224). The moment Istvan Teglas (the proctor) assigned
me Rack 13 I knew that I was meant either to pass very easy or to miserably
fail.

The lab by itself seemed a little bit easier than what I've been prepared
for. The open-ended questions seemed okay for me ( I honestly don't think
there is any additional preparation needed for them ), but I was very
nervous at the beginning of the lab and I finished (and reviewed them 4
times) in 25 minutes. I managed to go through most of the tasks in 6 hours,
then I got back to 2 of them which I skipped because I was only vaguely
familiar with. In another 30mins everything was fully functional, so I
rebooted the equipments one more time and started to review each and every
task. This helped me to spot 2 mistakes ( one thing that I overthinked and
got the proper clarification from Istvan and another feature I configured on
another switch than the correct one ).

My advice - if you want to get a good sleep after the lab and in the days to
come, do not attempt the lab on a Friday. It is terrible, terrible
stressing.

Cheers,

Bogdan Georgescu
CCIE# 24224

Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
Received on Mon Apr 27 2009 - 21:01:01 ART